November Remembrance
by Sgt. Moffitt
Summary: A day of mixed emotions...


_A/N: I don't own Hogan's Heroes and I don't get paid for this; it is truly a labor of love._

_Written as a humble tribute to those who suffered seventy-six years ago today._

* * *

><p>November 9, 2014<p>

Aaron Greenberg turned on his computer and scrolled through the latest news. There it was, on the BBC website:

_GERMANY MARKS FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL_

He frowned. Yes, it was that time of year again. Funny, how something that happened twenty-five years ago overshadowed something far more significant, something that happened seventy-six years ago on this very day.

True, there had been a little ripple of news coverage last year for the seventy-fifth anniversary, but nothing truly memorable had been mentioned, as he recalled.

In the search window of the BBC website he typed in "kristallnacht". And there it was, dated 7 November 2013:

_HOW BERLIN REMEMBERS KRISTALLNACHT_

He watched the brief video provided and frowned again. So some folks in Berlin remembered how the Holocaust began. Did anyone else? He would be willing to bet that very few Americans did.

Curious, Aaron did some more searches. How had the rest of the world responded to _Kristallnacht_ at the time?

There had been the _Kindertransport_, where 10,000 Jewish children were sent to Britain. But what had the Americans done? Not much, as far as he could see.

He was angry, and got up and paced the room. To think that America stood by and watched this tragedy unfold, without lifting a finger! So wrong, so stupid, so blind! He felt ashamed to be an American.

It took the attack on Pearl Harbor for the United States to become involved in the Second World War. And even then, Aaron thought bitterly, if Hitler hadn't declared war on the United States shortly thereafter, Americans probably wouldn't have been involved in the European Theater at all.

He stopped in his tracks suddenly, conscious of a need to discuss his feelings with someone who had lived in those turbulent times. And a feeling of shame swept over him again, since he hadn't seen his grandfather in weeks. He put on his overcoat and grabbed his car keys.

* * *

><p>It was a short drive to Chelsea, where his grandfather's nursing home was located. He swung the lobby door open and stopped to sign in at the receptionist's desk. He exchanged a smile with the young woman sitting there and then headed down the hallway to the wing where his grandfather's room was located.<p>

Grandpa was sitting in a chair facing the window, with a colorful knitted afghan draped across his knees. He looked up and smiled as Aaron came into the room, and stretched out his right hand to greet him.

"Welcome! Your father and mother left only half an hour ago; too bad you didn't come a little sooner."

Aaron flushed. "I'm sorry, I wish I could have seen them too. I know I've haven't been by to visit lately—"

His grandfather waved this off. "Never mind. I know what it was like to be young! Sit down, sit down."

Aaron perched on a nearby chair. "Actually, that's why I came. I wanted to talk about when you were young, during the war."

David Greenberg's bright blue gaze fixed on his grandson. "What do you want to know?"

"Well," Aaron hesitated, "you must have known about _Kristallnacht_ long before you enlisted and were sent overseas. Weren't you angry that the United States did nothing for so long?"

"Of course. Anti-Semitism was rampant, and so was isolationism." David stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Not that everyone ignored the facts; there were a couple of senators who tried to get the Wagner-Rogers Bill passed. It could've saved the lives of 20,000 Jewish children trying to escape Europe...but of course Congress voted it down. Figured it wouldn't be popular, considering how most people felt about immigration." He sighed. "A lot like it is today, in fact."

Aaron sighed too; he felt more despondent and ashamed than ever. "What happened when you joined the Air Corps?"

David turned his gaze to the window and the leafless garden beyond. "Wasn't easy. Most guys didn't have the same reasons for fighting that I did. They either didn't know or couldn't understand the deadly danger that Jews faced in Europe. And of course at that point none of us knew about the death camps. After I got shot down I was damn depressed because I thought I was out of the war, and damn scared because I got captured and I was a Jew."

Aaron swallowed. "What happened?"

"Got lucky. Ended up in this comparatively small camp called Luftstalag 13. The Krauts there treated me the same as all the other POWs, which isn't saying much of course, but we were better off than most Kriegies. There were a couple of other Jewish guys there, too, and they understood how I felt. Best of all, though, we didn't just sit out the war."

"What do you mean?"

David laughed. "Would you believe that while I was there I actually played the part of a brigadier general in the German army?"(1)

Aaron's jaw dropped. "What? How..."

"Ended up in the cooler, though, because we had to turn ourselves in afterwards." His grandfather shook his head. "But that's a story for another time. Right now I know you want to talk about today, the day on which _Kristallnacht _occurred."

He paused. "And by a strange and ironic quirk of fate, on this same day Germany is celebrating reunification." He held up a hand, anticipating a reaction from his grandson. "It is good that they were able to throw off the yoke of Soviet rule that held half the country captive for over forty years, and they are right to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall."

"But..."

"I have no hate in my heart for the Germany of today," David said. "Hatred and injustice are the enemies, just as they have always been. Unfortunately those two evils flourish all over the world and in every age, not just in the Nazi Germany of the thirties and forties."

He leaned closer to Aaron and held his gaze. "My generation fought the good fight back then. But your generation has a job to do, too. You must fight for justice...that is the best way you can honor those who suffered under the Nazi rule."

Aaron nodded slowly. "Okay."

David sighed. "I don't want you to hate because of what happened during _Kristallnacht _and the horror that followed. But..." He paused, looking out of the window again.

"What is it, Grandpa?"

"You must never, ever forget."

* * *

><p><em>(1) Foster, Mills and Greenberg were the POWs who assisted Carter during his Hitler impersonation in "Will the Real Adolf Please Stand Up?"<br>_


End file.
